Wednesday 11/21 A.M. Quickie:Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Sports Traditions: The NFL on Thanksgiving is one of my favorite traditions of the sports year and probably my favorite of all NFL traditions – there are a lot of weekends where I don't watch any NFL and just catch the highlights, but I always find time to watch at least the Lions game.

Obviously, the college bowl tradition on New Year's Day is a biggie, but it has decreased in relevancy as more and more of the major bowls move to subsequent nights of the first week of the year.

The NBA's Christmas Day game has increasingly become that league's biggest attraction of the season (including the All-Star Game and perhaps even the playoffs/Finals).

But nothing in terms of sports connected to a particular day of the year -- a holiday, no less -- tops the tradition of the Lions and Cowboys. No matter how the Lions or Cowboys are doing, I'm watching. (More T'giving goodness from the Ladies...)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families, and I hope you have a great weekend of good eating, safe traveling, dominant touch-football playing and quality TV sports-watching.

In the Comments, the question of the day, in addition to your usual topical analysis, an old "Morning Quickie" chat tradition: What (or who) in sports are you thankful for from the past year?

CFB Preview and Picks: Who would have thought back in August that Kansas vs. Missouri would be college football's biggest, most important and most must-see game of the year? Granted, it merely eclipses previous "Games of the Year" and its winner has no guarantee of being in the national title game, but given that both teams are two of a mere handful of teams with a BCS title-game shot, the fact that the game's loser is KO'ed and its winner stays in the Top 2 makes this incredibly dramatic.

I'm picking Missouri: From their close loss to Oklahoma, they finally know what it takes to win in these big games; Kansas has been playing with house money since about Week 6 – it's a Cinderella season for them even if they end up 11-1. If you haven't seen either team, this will be your chance. No excuses after this.

1 LSU over Arkansas (Friday)4 Missouri over 2 Kansas (Game of the Week/Year)3 West Virginia over 20 UConn (Big East title game?)7 Georgia over Georgia Tech8 VA Tech over 16 UVA (ACC title game play-in)9 Oregon over UCLA10 Oklahoma over OK St (OU: B12 South title)11 USC over 6 Arizona State (Thursday)12 Florida over FSU (Tebow: Heisman capper?)13 Texas over Texas A&M (Friday)14 BC over MiamiKentucky over 18 Tennessee (SEC East title implications)19 Boise State over 15 Hawaii (Friday)South Carolina over 22 Clemson23 South Florida over Pittsburgh24 Cincinnati over Syracuse25 BYU over Utah

The Picks:Packers over at Lions (Thursday)At Cowboys over Jets (Thursday)Colts over at Falcons (Thursday)At Bengals over TitansAt Browns over TexansAt Chiefs over RaidersAt Rams over SeahawksAt Giants over VikingsAt Bucs over RedskinsSaints over at PanthersAt Jaguars over BillsAt Cards over 49ersBroncos over at BearsAt Chargers over RavensAt Pats over EaglesAt Steelers over Dolphins

CBB Last Night: Really big win for UCLA over MichiganState (Kevin Love: 21 and 11 in what is becoming a routine double-double for him)... and don't call it an upset: St. Mary's crushed Oregon in Moraga, Calif.

Year of the Freshman, Cont'd: Patty Mills, St. Mary's, 37 points (school record for freshman). Why shouldn't a mid-major like the Gaels join in this season's dominant theme?

CBB Feasting: Tonight, catch Duke and Marquette in the Maui finals... On Thursday, catch Michael Beasley for yourself on ESPN2 at 9 when KansasState plays George Mason... Friday: Track Final Four favorite Tennessee in a tough road test at West Virginia... And, of course, a ton of tournaments where the title games could yield interesting intersectional pairings.

CFB BCS Tweak: Opening the BCS at-large invites to the Top 18 teams, rather than the Top 14, seems ludicrous, until you are reminded that the entire system is driven by greed, and the relatively equal distribution of that greed across the six power conferences. Otherwise, they could just expand the limit of each conference's BCS reps to more than two. Or expand the pool to guarantee a non-BCS team gets invited.

MLB: Jimmy Rollins edges Matt Holliday for NL MVP. Have to say: I'm a little surprised that the Rockies' unprecedented and thrilling late-season surge didn't yield a single individual award, despite two very legit candidates in Holliday and Tulowitzki. If the Rockies played on either coast, they would have swept the awards, you can bet on that.

NBA: Last night's Studs: Michael Redd and LeBron went at it, scoring 34 each, and the Bucks edged the Cavs... Andray Blatche took advantage of Gilbert Arenas taking the game off, and had 26 points (12/14 FG), 8 rebounds and 4 assists in 29 minutes, in a Wiz win... The Nuggets are sizzling: 6 straight wins...

The Lakers made a trade! No, they didn't trade Kobe. And, no, they didn't trade for someone to help Kobe play on anything but a Lottery team. But they DID trade Brian Cook and Maurice Evans to the Magic for Trevor Ariza, who is young and springy but hardly the missing piece.

Marbury and Isiah were booed by Garden fans, and the Knicks lost their 7th straight. I know Isiah had/has been untouchable, but you have to wonder how many more losses he can go before he's fired. (Don't cry for him: I'm sure there's a huge severance check that comes with it.

YouTube Must-See: Have you seen the new Gilbert Arenas sneaker TV ads? Amazing. (h/t: Fanhouse)

Michigan-Carr-Miles Watch: Cajun Boy in the City, the finest LSU blog out there, has some inside scoop (and innovative fact-finding techniques) that Michigan is interested in Les Miles...

Dan on the NL MVP vote, A 20 game hot streak does not make a season and awards like MVP, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year are awarded for excellence during the full season and that is why the rockies players fell short.

"Dan on the NL MVP vote, A 20 game hot streak does not make a season and awards like MVP, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year are awarded for excellence during the full season and that is why the rockies players fell short."

Had the Mets not imploded, Jimmy Rollins would not be MVP. To argue otherwise would be disingenuous. Why should Colorado be punished for another team choking down the stretch?

And would Dan be arguing to increase the number of BCS spots in a conference to 3 if it didn't help Florida? He's just annoyed that it's letting a 2nd Big Ten team into the mix. To him, it's a shame the Big Ten is even ALLOWED in the BCS, after Ohio State lost to Florida last year and Michigan lost to Division-IAA defending champion Ohio State and perennial Big Ten power Alabama lost at home to Louisiana-Monroe.

What? Is there a typo in there?

I am thankful that global warming is going to take Boston under the sea in my lifetime.

I think that's the first funny thing I've seen from Jonathan. Well played.

I'm thankful for Celtics and Pats.I'm thankful the 49ers draft pick.I'm thankful for the Indians finally making a return to the playoffs.I'm also thankful I made it through that series without breaking up with my Sox fan girlfriend.I'm extremely thankful for the Boise State Broncos giving me the best sports moment of my life on January 1st, 2007.

Rollins became what the 4th or 5th player in the history of MLB to have 20 HR, 20 SB, 20 2B and 20 3b and not to mention the fact that he won a gold glove at one of the most important defensive positions.

I'm thankful for the season that KU football has had this year. I'll be even more thankful when they beat Missouri this Saturday night and I can stop listening to everyone say that KU is a awful not deserving of their rank. They are a very good team.

Still not sold on Beasley yet. He may be putting up big numbers, but against small competition. He's a power foward matching up against guys 2-4 inches smaller than him. And they've had mostly close games (against weak competition) so he's playing a lot of minutes as well. I'm not saying Beasley isn't good, I just want to see him do it against teams that can match his size first. We'll see how he does against KU who can rotate 3-4 guys his size in and out against him. Love's 20-10 against a team like Mich St impresses me much more.

I am thankful for a Thanksgiving Lions game that has meaning beyond pride. Like jhawkjjm with Kansas, I'd be more thankful if we beat Green Bay. But even if we lose, I am still thankful for a game to be excited about.

Thankful in sports eh? I'm going to go with an "I hope to soon be thankful" for Dan Radakovich. Who's he? He happens to be the Georgia Tech athletic directior that has been refusing to give Chan Gailey a vote of confidence. I'm hoping to soon be thankful for him after he fires that awful coach.

I would argue that Rollins did not deserve the gold glove either. Really, you couldn't go wrong with either of the candidates for MVP. Prince Fielder finished 3rd?!? Bumper crop for MVP candidates this year.

Happy Thanksgiving--I'm thankful for my family, for good health and that in the last 18 months, my beloved Gators have won 3 national championships! It might not happen again in the immediate future, but it was, is, and always will be great to be a Florida Gator!

I would be thankful if we could have one day when people did not rip on each other and talked about sports instead of getting personal but with guys like mills, blue, scuba steve and jonathan around that just will not happen.

cmfost - compare Rollins' stats to H. Ramirez's. Ramirez had the same number of hits in fewer ABs, more doubles, practically the same HRs, higher avg., OBP, SLG%, and OPS. he wasn't even the best SS in his division.

If the Rockies played on either coast, they would have swept the awards, you can bet on that.---------This is just not true Daniel-san. Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter have won an MVP and Cy Young award respectively in the last couple of years, despite playing in a smaller midwestern market.

Further, even Brian Bannister finished 3d in the ROY voting for the AL (I think) and he plays for the flipping Royals. If he can generate enough buzz with a 12-7 record and no preseason hype to finish 3d, it goes a long way in proving that the "coast biases" are over-exagerrated.

PV - The guys at LOV have had something against dan for a long time. And most of the new ass clowns that have been showing up are probably just extra screen names that blue, steve, mills ... have made up to try and piss us off.

It is really getting to a pathetic point. It is like they have nothing better to do then sit in there parents basement and think up childish pranks to pull on dan and the rest of us here.

I would be thankful if we could have one day when people did not rip on each other and talked about sports instead of getting personal but with guys like mills, blue, scuba steve and jonathan around that just will not happen.-----------if by "getting personal" you mean "asking you to correctly use thEN/thAn" -- then yes, guilty as charged.

Steve there is a big difference between honorably serving your country and being an army lemming. Being an army lemming is the type person like roger who uses quotes like "you wouldn't last a day in the army". Especially when he knows nothing of the background of the people who he is talking to.

*That I get to watch Roger Federer at his peak*For the respectable defence of the Rugby World Cup by the England team*For Omer Golan*That Red Sox Nation didn't have to wait another 86 years*For everything Tim Henman gave British tennis*That no matter what's happening in professional sport, I can spend every Saturday running around with my team-mates enjoying sport for all things it should really be about

What is a cmfost? And why is it so interesting that there are two of you? Or is it the same person but they have a multiple personality disorder? Now you are saying that Blue is the same person as well. Time to get a life CMblue

Omer Golan scored the winning goal for Israel against Russia on Saturday, ensuring that all England have to do to qualify for next summer's European Football Championships is draw with Croatia tonight; had the two sides drawn on Saturday, England would need a win this evening, and if Russia had won, England would effectively have been eliminated. Bet you're wishing you'd never asked...!

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.